Buses to link workers, jobs

Ozark Regional Transit plans to add new routes

SPRINGDALE — Ozark Regional Transit plans to start new bus routes connecting neighborhoods where workers live to the businesses for which they work, said Joel Gardner, executive director.

“All of these (routes) are focused on getting people back and forth to places of employment,” Gardner said.

Workforce routes will begin May 26, the day after Memorial Day, and run through Sept. 4, the Friday before Labor Day, Gardner said. The pilot project is meant to show a need for public transportation among workers at places like Tyson, Cargill and George’s, Gardner said.

Gardner hopes later to ask for support for permanent workforce routes.

A recent survey of Cargill workers put public transportation among the top five

needs, said Shane Acosta, general manager. The new routes are expected to help Cargill by increasing work attendance, he said.

“It just gives the workers an opportunity for more reliable transportation to get to work on time,” Acosta said.

Some families have only one or two vehicles and struggle to find adequate transportation, Acosta said.

The new routes will mean reliable and affordable transportation for workers, he said.

A fixed route monthly pass costs $30 for an adult, according to the Ozark Regional Transit website. Bus fare on a fixed routes is $1.25.

“These are things Ozark Regional Transit has not been working on in the past — moving employees to get to work,” Gardner said.

The transportation system has underserved Northwest Arkansas cities’ needs previously, but the bus system is improving, Gardner said. Last year, the transit rolled out several new routes, improved reliability and increased technology, officials have said.

Workforce routes are part of the bus system’s improvements, Gardner said.

Ozark Regional Transit plotted the routes with input from companies to target specific neighborhoods where large populations of workers live, Gardner and Acosta said. The workforce routes are only for Springdale, Gardner said.

Companies benefit from the new routes because they will see workers come to work on time consistently, Gardner said. Attendance is a problem at plants, including Cargill, Acosta and Gardner said. Companies don’t run efficiently when employees cannot get to work, Acosta said.

“We are basically running inefficient when we don’t have enough workers on the line,” he said.

The four workforce routes — running in 30-minute loops — will be added to permanent routes 62, 63 and 64, Gardner said.

Route 64 stretches from the Walmart Supercenter at West Robinson Avenue to Northwest Community College off North Gutensohn Road. Route 63 connects Harps Foods off Butterfield Coach Road with Tyson Foods off West Don Tyson Parkway, the map shows. Route 62 starts at the Walmart Supercenter on West Robinson Avenue and makes several stops, including Northwest Medical Center-Springdale and The Jones Center, maps show.

Some of the roads served by the workforce routes will include Patti Avenue, White Road, Onyx Avenue, Porter Avenue and Ashlee Drive, according to an Ozark Regional

Transit map. Other roads near Bayyari Elementary School also are served, Gardner said.

Connecting workers with employers is a fundamental reason to have public transportation in the first place, said Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. The community as a whole benefits because fewer people will lose their jobs, he said.

“People need to be able to get to work,” Hawkins said. “And, the companies — they need to have a dependable workforce that they can count on to be there when needed.”

Acosta said if the workforce routes are successful, Cargill may help fund a permanent workforce route. Other companies did not return phone messages by deadline Friday.

Gardner hopes to create public-private partnerships to fund permanent workforce routes, he said. The pilot route is expected to cost about $ 76,800 for 75 days of service, 16 hours a day, Gardner said. A permanent workforce route costs roughly $261,000 per year, Gardner said.

The routes are expected to have extra benefits for Springdale — reduced traffic congestion, fewer uninsured motorists and fewer accidents, Gardner said. The routes also connect schoolchildren to the free summertime lunch program, he said.

Gardner sees these workforce routes as what Ozark Regional must pursue to better serve cities.

“Hopefully, this becomes the future of Ozark Regional Transit in Northwest Arkansas,” Gardner said.

“These are things Ozark Regional Transit has not been working on in the past — moving employees to get to work.”

— Joel Gardner, executive director